Spaghetti's story
Have you ever seen a famous and a cult Italian movie Un Americano a Roma? If your answer is affermative you will probably remember as well a scene in which the beloved Italian actor Alberto Sordi tries his best to eat like an American, snubbing the plate of pasta left out for him for a few seconds. After a short period he cannot longer resist and after grabbing the bowl of spaghetti he plunges his fork into it with passion that clearly shows his love for pasta. The protagonist of our culinary story today is the most loved form of pasta: Spaghetti!
Nothing defines best Italy as its delicious food loved by many people all over the world. Italians are, however, mostly famous for a specific culinary delight, pasta, brought to America and not only by immigrants. Unlike other Italian products as pizza and tomato source, which have a recent history, pasta may have a much complex historical background we will try to unveil.
Spaghetti is probably not only the most loved but as well the most popular form of Italian pasta (paste in English). When speaking about pasta we think of shaped dough made from semolina flour and water while with the term spaghetti we define pasta in the shape of little twines. Sometimes the word “spaghetti” can be referred to any kind of noodle that is long, thin and round. The difference with other form of pasta is that noodles are made from any kind of flour including rice, soy, corn, potato and even bean starch and some of them might also contain eggs, as it is the case with fresh pasta. The word “spaghetti” can also be considered a synonym for Italian roots and referred to anything Italian. The best and most obvious example for this is the Spaghetti Western that describes a movies produced by Italian moviemakers.
If we could follow the scent of pasta through the millennia we could, without exaggeration, trace the entire history of civilization. In the last 3500 years, following the road of pasta we could meet different cultures and continents ranging from Asia, the Mid-East, Europe, the Americas and partially Africa as well. In spite of its long and rich historical and cultural roots, today we universally associate the name of pasta to Italy although this has not always been the case.
The early history of pasta has its roots in China of the Shang dynasty (ruled in period 1700-1100 BC) where appeared the first noodles made with either wheat or rice. It was in Chine, in a town called Qinghai that in 2005 were found the remains of spaghetti-like noodles estimated by archeologists to be some 4000 years old. Pasta was also a part of the ancient Greek civilization’s diet dating the first millennium BC. The lasagna as we know it comes from the Greek term “laganon” standing for strips of dough made with flour and water.
Around the fourth century BC pasta appears in Italy. There is archeological evidence of the pasta existence in the Etruscan civilization, in the today’s regions of Lazio, Umbria and Tuscany. The experts have found in an Etruscan tomb tools and kitchen utensils to roll pasta similar to those we use today. Thanks to these discoveries we can dismiss a legend according to which was Marco Polo the one who brought pasta to Europe after his trips in the Far East.
Noodles existed in Asia long before Polo’s trip to China. Archaeologists believe that central Asia is most likely the first area to have produced noodles thousands of years ago. From Asia, it traveled westward. The way it reached Europe is still unclear, though there are many theories—some believe that nomadic Arabs are responsible for bringing early forms of pasta in the west world.
What about the development of pasta like foods (and especially spaghetti) in Europe? Clearly the lagana that Marco Polo spoke of was the first noodle-type food to be found mentioned in Italian writings. And the only one for quite some time. Around the 1100’s appears the word vermicelli used to describe a kind of “pasta with strings” made and sold to mainland Italians by the Sicilians who were, starting from 965, under Arabic writings. We can find Arabic writings from the same period discussing about pasta and similar topics. Taking all this revelations we could say that spaghetti pasta was probably “invented” in Sicily somewhere between 1000 and 1100 either by the Arabs or the Sicilians or, probably, both of them together. Whoever was the first inventor of spaghetti, we only have to thank the Italians for making spaghetti such a popular dish all over the globe.
The development of pasta as culinary art in Italy takes off in the Renaissance period. By the 14th century pasta was already part of people’s life in Florence and Rome. Pasta was for the first time mentioned by the humanist knows as Platina, author of an important treatise from 1474 entitled "On Right Pleasure and Good Health" (De honesta volupatate et valetudine).
Although were early Spanish settlers among the first who brought pasta to America, the one who mainly contributed to its popularity was Thomas Jefferson. While he was staying in Paris as ambassador from 1784 to 1789 he tasted what he called macaroni, in reference at the time to any shape of pasta. On his return to America, as he totally enjoyed the dish, he brought two cases and when supply ran out he asked his Neapolitan friend for help. During the late 19 century, when a large group of Italian immigrants, mostly from Naples, came to America pasta became a common food in the states.
Somewhere in the XVII century in Naples we have the first rudimentary machines for the pasta production, in Gragnano with a higher precision. In 1740 in Venice Paolo Adami was granted the license to open the first factory of pasta. In 1867 in the upper Tiber Valley was founded the Buitoni Company, today one of the leading pasta manufactures in the world.
History a part, what is certain is that Italians, the first to serve pasta as a main dish are the only one to blame for such a huge popularity of spaghetti. As Alberto Sordi from the beginning of story, who cannot hide his love for pasta, today people all over the world, with the same passion, enjoy eating spaghetti. Spaghetti pasta that only speaks Italian.
©2014 Emina Ristovic, The Italian Heritage Magazine
Nothing defines best Italy as its delicious food loved by many people all over the world. Italians are, however, mostly famous for a specific culinary delight, pasta, brought to America and not only by immigrants. Unlike other Italian products as pizza and tomato source, which have a recent history, pasta may have a much complex historical background we will try to unveil.
Spaghetti is probably not only the most loved but as well the most popular form of Italian pasta (paste in English). When speaking about pasta we think of shaped dough made from semolina flour and water while with the term spaghetti we define pasta in the shape of little twines. Sometimes the word “spaghetti” can be referred to any kind of noodle that is long, thin and round. The difference with other form of pasta is that noodles are made from any kind of flour including rice, soy, corn, potato and even bean starch and some of them might also contain eggs, as it is the case with fresh pasta. The word “spaghetti” can also be considered a synonym for Italian roots and referred to anything Italian. The best and most obvious example for this is the Spaghetti Western that describes a movies produced by Italian moviemakers.
If we could follow the scent of pasta through the millennia we could, without exaggeration, trace the entire history of civilization. In the last 3500 years, following the road of pasta we could meet different cultures and continents ranging from Asia, the Mid-East, Europe, the Americas and partially Africa as well. In spite of its long and rich historical and cultural roots, today we universally associate the name of pasta to Italy although this has not always been the case.
The early history of pasta has its roots in China of the Shang dynasty (ruled in period 1700-1100 BC) where appeared the first noodles made with either wheat or rice. It was in Chine, in a town called Qinghai that in 2005 were found the remains of spaghetti-like noodles estimated by archeologists to be some 4000 years old. Pasta was also a part of the ancient Greek civilization’s diet dating the first millennium BC. The lasagna as we know it comes from the Greek term “laganon” standing for strips of dough made with flour and water.
Around the fourth century BC pasta appears in Italy. There is archeological evidence of the pasta existence in the Etruscan civilization, in the today’s regions of Lazio, Umbria and Tuscany. The experts have found in an Etruscan tomb tools and kitchen utensils to roll pasta similar to those we use today. Thanks to these discoveries we can dismiss a legend according to which was Marco Polo the one who brought pasta to Europe after his trips in the Far East.
Noodles existed in Asia long before Polo’s trip to China. Archaeologists believe that central Asia is most likely the first area to have produced noodles thousands of years ago. From Asia, it traveled westward. The way it reached Europe is still unclear, though there are many theories—some believe that nomadic Arabs are responsible for bringing early forms of pasta in the west world.
What about the development of pasta like foods (and especially spaghetti) in Europe? Clearly the lagana that Marco Polo spoke of was the first noodle-type food to be found mentioned in Italian writings. And the only one for quite some time. Around the 1100’s appears the word vermicelli used to describe a kind of “pasta with strings” made and sold to mainland Italians by the Sicilians who were, starting from 965, under Arabic writings. We can find Arabic writings from the same period discussing about pasta and similar topics. Taking all this revelations we could say that spaghetti pasta was probably “invented” in Sicily somewhere between 1000 and 1100 either by the Arabs or the Sicilians or, probably, both of them together. Whoever was the first inventor of spaghetti, we only have to thank the Italians for making spaghetti such a popular dish all over the globe.
The development of pasta as culinary art in Italy takes off in the Renaissance period. By the 14th century pasta was already part of people’s life in Florence and Rome. Pasta was for the first time mentioned by the humanist knows as Platina, author of an important treatise from 1474 entitled "On Right Pleasure and Good Health" (De honesta volupatate et valetudine).
Although were early Spanish settlers among the first who brought pasta to America, the one who mainly contributed to its popularity was Thomas Jefferson. While he was staying in Paris as ambassador from 1784 to 1789 he tasted what he called macaroni, in reference at the time to any shape of pasta. On his return to America, as he totally enjoyed the dish, he brought two cases and when supply ran out he asked his Neapolitan friend for help. During the late 19 century, when a large group of Italian immigrants, mostly from Naples, came to America pasta became a common food in the states.
Somewhere in the XVII century in Naples we have the first rudimentary machines for the pasta production, in Gragnano with a higher precision. In 1740 in Venice Paolo Adami was granted the license to open the first factory of pasta. In 1867 in the upper Tiber Valley was founded the Buitoni Company, today one of the leading pasta manufactures in the world.
History a part, what is certain is that Italians, the first to serve pasta as a main dish are the only one to blame for such a huge popularity of spaghetti. As Alberto Sordi from the beginning of story, who cannot hide his love for pasta, today people all over the world, with the same passion, enjoy eating spaghetti. Spaghetti pasta that only speaks Italian.
©2014 Emina Ristovic, The Italian Heritage Magazine